Winter in South Africa was not long, normally about 3 months if that - but it could get really cold. Even though the day time temperatures in winter could be up in the high teens or early 20's at night it could drop down to below freezing.
Most house would have a coal stove, ours was in the lounge, and most of the time you could not feel the heat coming from it unless you were right next to it. It looked almost exactly like this one:
I remember in our backyard behind the maid's room we had to brick coal bins built in. In winter time Macphail Coal would come around with their big truck and deliver coal. The guys who worked for them were native and I guess working with the coal they just looked blacker than anything I had seen before.
You would only ever see their white eyes, they would carry these huge hessian sacks full of coal and then empty them in the coal bin at the back of the house. Our little dogs would always bark like bad at them. I can still seem the coal men in my minds eye and I so wish I had a picture of them.
If you have a photograph from those days please contact me! If I could draw I would draw the men and the truck, but unfortunately I was not gifted with the ability to draw. :)
Most house would have a coal stove, ours was in the lounge, and most of the time you could not feel the heat coming from it unless you were right next to it. It looked almost exactly like this one:
I remember in our backyard behind the maid's room we had to brick coal bins built in. In winter time Macphail Coal would come around with their big truck and deliver coal. The guys who worked for them were native and I guess working with the coal they just looked blacker than anything I had seen before.
You would only ever see their white eyes, they would carry these huge hessian sacks full of coal and then empty them in the coal bin at the back of the house. Our little dogs would always bark like bad at them. I can still seem the coal men in my minds eye and I so wish I had a picture of them.
If you have a photograph from those days please contact me! If I could draw I would draw the men and the truck, but unfortunately I was not gifted with the ability to draw. :)
